Billions in debt, a staggering unemployment rate, and a declining population dominated news coverage of Puerto Rico earlier this year. Those issues caused many to question the island’s governance and stability. Now the impact of Hurricane Maria has added to Puerto Rico’s problems. Little of the news coverage has bothered to examine the deep roots of the current crisis. How did we get here, and how can the Puerto Rican people deal with the country’s immediate problems and long-term economic challenges? Join the conversation at the Newark Public Library as we mark a century of statutory American citizenship for Puerto Ricans.

This public forum will feature keynote speaker Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel of Latino Justice–Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF). Cartagena will be joined by Sarah Molinari, doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Jason Cortés, Associate Professor, Graduate Program in American Studies, Rutgers University-Newark, will serve as moderator.

Latino Celebration 2017 programs and exhibit are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and administered by the Essex Council Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, support from Verizon / NJ Shares Communications Lifeline program, and by a grant from the Friends of the HRIC.